Casavela: Urban Challenges and Solutions

This assignment delves into the complex issues plaguing Casavela, a slum community in Brazil. It examines the social, economic, and environmental challenges residents face, particularly concerning poverty, inadequate sanitation, and limited infrastructure. The document proposes various solutions aimed at improving the living conditions in Casavela, highlighting the need for sustainable urban development strategies.

Running head: TRANSFORMING AN URBAN SLUM
Human Geography: Transforming an Urban Slum
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1TRANSFORMING AN URBAN SLUM
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Urbanization of slums in São Paulo.................................................................................................2
Priorities for Casavela......................................................................................................................3
Transformation of Casavela.............................................................................................................4
Recommendation and conclusion....................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Casavela is a slum located in the south east of São Paulo, Brazil. The name is derived
from two Portuguese words, Casa, meaning ‘household’ and Favela meaning ‘slum’. It is less
populous area with only 125 dwellings with 6 people on an average in each dwelling, total
population being 750. The area is highly underdeveloped and there are many social and
environmental problems in Casavela. The aim of the report is to provide solution to improve the
social and environmental condition of the region and effective utilization of the budget of $4
million in two years, to be provided by the US Government.
Urbanization of slums in São Paulo
Brazil has been known as the country with maximum slum area. These slums are
commonly known as favelas. Almost 6% of Brazil’s population lives in the slums. Rio has
almost 1000 and São Paulo has almost 1600 favelas (Meyer 2017). These favelas grew in
numbers as the migration from the rural and poorer areas increased. Migration has been
increasing towards to cities due to more job opportunities, better quality of life, education,
healthcare and adverse and more challenging life in rural areas. The level of migration has
increased in the past decade. However, this rapid urbanization led to the crisis of
accommodation and employment. Those migrated people cannot afford better and costly
housing, hence they move into the informal and cheaper slums or favelas. In São Paulo,
approximately 2 million people live in the favelas. These areas are characterized by very poor
infrastructure, leading to problems of plumbing, electricity, sanitation and many more
developmental issues. Due to this high level of underdevelopment, there too much health and
hygiene problems (Rotsky 2016). Casavela is no exception.

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The Brazilian government has taken several measures to improve the slum conditions.
Initially, the government made policies to eradicate the people living in favelas. But that policy
failed. In the 1980s, the policy shifted towards upgradation of the slums rather than eradication.
São Paulo has introduced the policy of creating zones of special interest for the undeveloped and
disorganized slums. This is done to formally recognize the existence of the favelas and making
plans for their upliftment. Another measure authorizes the joint collaboration and movement by
the government and citizen in new as well as more settled areas for the development of the areas.
Casavela has many problems, which need government intervention. Through this report the plans
for upgradation in Casavela will be focused (Dupont et al. 2015).
Priorities for Casavela
Like many other favelas, Casavela also suffers from many problems. The lack of
development, lack of health and hygiene are the cause of very poor quality of life in Casavela.
There are severe problems regarding quality and standard of life and infrastructural issues. There
are 300 school aged children in Casavela but there is no school for them. The housings are built
without government approval and all the house stocks are very poor quality (Nemer and Freeman
2015). Adult literacy is very low, the infant mortality rate is very high, immunization rate is very
low, level of disease is high, residents do not get the minimum calorie from daily food, hence,
the health aspect is very low and very high illegal activities (Rocco and Ballegooien 2015). The
infrastructural issues are much more, such as, lack of sanitation and proper sewerage system,
lack of waste disposal system, more unpaved roads, which generates more unhygienic practices,
lack of formal public transport, no electricity, no running water in any home, same water used
for drinking as well as for cleaning, pollution from surrounding cement works, lack of proper

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communication technology and internet, flash flooding during heavy rainfall in summer, open
fireplaces causing casualties, and overcrowding (Lemanski 2016).
Among all these problems, the major priorities will be some infrastructural
developments, which would improve the quality of lives of the people of Casavela. Those are
providing water and electricity to all the homes, constructing drainage, sanitation and sewerage,
building health facilities, creating jobs, acquiring new space, and housing upgradation.
Transformation of Casavela
The total budget for development was determined by the US Government at $4 million
for two years. To implement the development plan, firstly, the priorities need to be set to make
an overall development for the people. All the aspects should be covered in the plan, so that in
the two years of funding, major changes can be achieved. Infrastructural development can result
in a better way of life, which would be reflected in the social life of the people (Roig, Feitosa and
Monteiro 2016). For implementing any improvement plan, new space is required. The Casavela
development committee should first purchase some polluted industrial site and through
remediation, this site would be used for building new housing. This would increase the total area
by 20%. This step would reduce the problem of overcrowding and would cost $1,000,000. Next,
investments should be made in a hardwood furniture factory, 500 m away from northern
Casavela. This would generate full time employment for 45 people in the processing works. This
would cost $ 1,500,000. Thirdly, the drainage system should be developed to reduce the
environmental and heath damage from flooding. This task would also generate full time jobs for
5 people of Casavela. This would cost $750,000. Fourthly, the health of the people living in a
favela is a concern. Since, the area is highly unhygienic; people suffer from various diseases and

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low mortality rate. Hence, twice weekly visit of two doctors and four nurses would be ensured by
the development committee. However, this would only include the basic treatment and not
immunizations or chronic illness treatment. Cost for this plan would be total $200,000. Lastly,
providing safe drinking water to all the people of Casavela very important, hence, three new
drinking water pumps would be installed and serviced on the south west edge of Casavela. One
pump can provide water for 250 people and since the total population is 750, three pumps would
be required. Cost for one pump is $100,000. Thus, the total cost of this plan would be $300,000.
Therefore, all these plans can utilize the funding of $4 million for two years to improve the lives
of the favela. The plans and their costs are represented in the table below.
Transformational plans for Casavela Cost ($)
Purchase of new land to increase space of
Casavela by 20%
1,000,000
Investment in a hardwood furniture factory in
northern Casavela and generate employment
for 45 people
1,500,000
Development of a drainage system and
generate employment for 5 people
750,000
Twice a week visit by two doctors with basic
medical facilities
100,000
Twice a week visit by four nurses with basic
medical facilities
100,000

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Installation and servicing of three new drinking
water pumps
300,000
Total 4,000,000
Table 1: Budget distribution for development of Casavela
(Source: Author)
Recommendation and conclusion
Casavela needs long term planning for the overall development of the generations. The
two year plan would solve only the immediate extreme problems. However, long term planning
from the government is required. After the initial development plan is implemented, the focus
should be on more detailed development of the area as well as in the life of people (Snyder et al.
2017). The following can be recommended in this regard.
 The area needs a proper school for the children, as well as for the adults. Thus, new land
should be acquired to build a school building and teachers should be appointed. Some
locals can also be trained to provide services in the schools.
 The younger generation should be given skills training for new job opportunities (Hacker
et al. 2013).
 Investments should be made in more factories and in scopes for generating employment.
 Forest conservation plan should be made to reduce soil erosion and flooding
 All the roads should be paved

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 Transport services should be developed so that the area gets connected with São Paulo
(Worldbank.org 2017)
 Communication system should be improved.
 A hospital should be build.
Thus, in the next 3 to 5 years, many requirements should be addressed for Casavela. The area
needs many infrastructural developments, which would make lives better. In the next two years
some primary needs would be fulfilled. While, other needs, as mentioned above, must be
addressed in the next couple of years for the overall improvement of Casavela.

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References
Dupont, V., Jordhus-Lier, D., Sutherland, C. and Braathen, E. eds., 2015. The politics of slums in
the global South: Urban informality in Brazil, India, South Africa and Peru. Routledge.
Hacker, K.P., Seto, K.C., Costa, F., Corburn, J., Reis, M.G., Ko, A.I. and Diuk-Wasser, M.A.,
2013. Urban slum structure: integrating socioeconomic and land cover data to model slum
evolution in Salvador, Brazil. International journal of health geographics, 12(1), p.45.
Lemanski, C., 2016. The Politics of Slums in the Global South: Urban informality in Brazil,
India, South Africa and Peru Véronique Dupont, David Jordhus‐Lier, Catherine Sutherland and
Einar Braathen (eds). Routledge, Oxon, 2016, pp. xvii+ 230 (ISBN 978‐1‐138‐83981‐
6). Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 37(2), pp.272-273.
Meyer, A., 2017. Urbanisation In Brazil. [online] Brazil.org.za. Available at:
http://www.brazil.org.za/unrbanisation-in-brazil.html [Accessed 23 Sep. 2017].
Nemer, D. and Freeman, G., 2015. Selfies| Empowering the marginalized: Rethinking selfies in
the slums of Brazil. International Journal of Communication, 9, p.16.
Rocco, R.C. and Ballegooien, J., 2015. Urban informality and democratisation in Sao Paulo: The
sinous road to citizenship. In Proceedings of SLAS, Society for Latin American Studies
Conference, Aberdeen, UK, April 17-18, 2015; Authors version. SLAS.
Roig, C.D.A., Feitosa, F.D.F. and Monteiro, A.M.V., 2016, February. Urbanization and Access
Inequality to Collective Consumption Goods & Services related to Sanitation & Solid Waste in
the cities of Sao Paulo State, Brazil. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts.

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Rotsky, N., 2016. 10 Important Facts to Know About Brazilian Slums. [online] The Borgen
Project. Available at: https://borgenproject.org/facts-about-brazilian-slums/ [Accessed 23 Sep.
2017].
Snyder, R.E., Rajan, J.V., Costa, F., Lima, H.C., Calcagno, J.I., Couto, R.D., Riley, L.W., Reis,
M.G., Ko, A.I. and Ribeiro, G.S., 2017. Differences in the Prevalence of Non-Communicable
Disease between Slum Dwellers and the General Population in a Large Urban Area in
Brazil. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, 2(3), p.47.
Worldbank.org, 2017. Improving Slums: Stories from Sao Paulo. [online] Sustainable Cities.
Available at: http://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/no-excuses-slum-upgrading [Accessed
23 Sep. 2017].